Arkona – An Eternal Curse Of The Pagan Godz

Arkona is, put quite simply, another example of the statement I made the last time I reviewed a Polish release: When they set their minds to something, there seems to be something inherently perfectionistic in the Polish way of doing things – Case in point, An Eternal Curse Of The Pagan Godz, an exquisite example of Second Wave Black Metal if ever there was one. That being said however, this time it might be cheating a bit, since this album was originally released at the height of the Second Wave (in the mid-nineties), meaning that this is not so much a homage to the classics, but an (for me) undiscovered gem. Well, finding new albums that somehow flew underneath my radar (sometimes for literal decades) is the primary perk of this job and I for one am glad to finally being able to put an Arkona Demo into my ever-expanding collection. 

As I have already hinted to above, if you are into the genre you should know what you are getting into – Namely, heavily distorted guitar riffs, gruffy, low-brow growls and simple, efficient drums and keyboard, all mixed on an apparently low-tech analogue mixing station (I especially appreciate them not remixing the album in order to clean up the tracks as is often the case with these type of rereleases – After all, the gruff, unpolished sound is part of the charm in my opinion). 

And yet, for the second time in a row, I am forced to come to the same conclusion. Is the album good? If you are into Second Wave Black Metal, yes – An Eternal Curse of The Pagan Godz contains eight tracks, averaging around the four to six minutes (with one exception) as well as an outro. Each of them a powerful experience in its own right spouting their pagan idolatry and anti-christian ideals at the world as it is. 

Is it short? Not for a Demo, no – Clocking in at roughly thirty-eight minutes, by todays standard it would almost qualify as a Full-length release (another thing I do like about this time period). 

Do they bring anything new to the table? By its very definition, no. This is, as far as I can tell, a rerelease as close to the original as possible, albeit on a new medium (my version is on a compact disc, where it was published on a cassette back in the day). Nevertheless, the genre is still going strong three decades later, so this serves as a good chance for fans, old and new alike, to fetch a version for their own collection. And, since this Demo was the first release Arkona ever made, here is to hoping that Old Temple will be releasing the rest of their discography as well down the line.  Definitely a quartet worth keeping an eye on.

Recommended for fans of Carpathian Forest, 1349 and Graveland. 

https://www.facebook.com/arkonahorde